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Apps HBO max app 2021 Siri remote not working right?

inkahauts

inkahauts

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Sep 7, 2014
446
207
Seems something has happened, they must have updated the HBO max app since last night, because now the remote won’t skip forward or back 10 seconds, you can’t use the new scroll wheel and when you stop and swipe it’s just weird… heck you just touch the touch pad area while it’s playing and the playback moves to a different spot, and then will ffwd or rewd randomly and doesn’t stop till you press a button.

But the app still works fine on the iPhone app. Any thoughts?
 
Actually it’s partially broke on the iPhone remote as well it seems. You can’t bring up the play bar without the program stopping, and you can’t get the actual time on the play bar either.

They really screwed this up.
 
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This is a headscratching "update" by HBO. It doesn't bring, as far as I can tell, any improvements or new features, and simply breaks a bunch of core functionality. If you were a secret employee for another competing company you couldn't do much worse in terms of releasing an update that would make customers unhappy.
 
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I am so glad to see this thread. I thought something was wrong with my new Apple TV. Mine was acting exactly as described by the original poster on HBOmax. I hope they fix this soon.
 
It's starting to gain traction around the Apple sites. Hopefully this will pressure HBO into fixing it, or at least rolling it back to the last version, which functioned perfectly fine.

9to5mac.com

HBO Max update for tvOS breaks key features on Apple TV - 9to5Mac

The latest version of HBO Max for tvOS breaks several key features of the Apple TV app, such as Siri interaction and Remote gestures.
9to5mac.com 9to5mac.com
appleinsider.com

HBO Max ditches tvOS API for homegrown solution, chaos ensues | AppleInsider

A recent update to the HBO Max app on tvOS has reportedly introduced a number of bugs and broken compatibility with key Apple TV platform features like Siri integration.
appleinsider.com appleinsider.com
 
What motivation could they have for these changes? It just seems weird because it brings no advantages to the table and breaks things.

YouTube did the same thing a while back; they initially used the native player but then switched to their own which is nowhere near as good.

This is a case where I think Apple should put their foot down and *require* that streaming apps use the native video player API. A case where their exercising control would benefit everyone and they don't do so here.
 
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If I thought it help I’d say we should all uninstall the app till they fix it.

I wonder if it’s now the same player experience on every system and that’s why they changed it. In which case they are morons.
 
inkahauts said:
If I thought it help I’d say we should all uninstall the app till they fix it.

I wonder if it’s now the same player experience on every system and that’s why they changed it. In which case they are morons.
Click to expand...
Rather than that (which would result in simply you just paying for a service you don't have access to), I'd highly recommend submitting feedback, which I have just done. Their feedback form is here: https://help.hbomax.com/feedback
 
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After my bad experience with the Apple TV app trying to run HBOmax. I went back to the HBOmax app that's on my Samsung TV and it worked fine.
 
zorinlynx said:
What motivation could they have for these changes? It just seems weird because it brings no advantages to the table and breaks things.
Click to expand...

I think these different providers want to offer their own user experiences that makes more sense for their brand. Many designers do not like Apple's stock player experience.
 
zorinlynx said:
What motivation could they have for these changes? It just seems weird because it brings no advantages to the table and breaks things.

YouTube did the same thing a while back; they initially used the native player but then switched to their own which is nowhere near as good.
Click to expand...

The same motivation that any modern corporation has, saving money, especially one saddled by debt, and with roots as a public utility that didn't have to worry about user experience.

Some mid-level VP probably saw a chance to save some money by making the team that developed the old HBO app redundant, and reassigning the task to another existing team. like the one that's been producing the horrible AT&T TV apps.

Money can be also saved by moving the app to cross-platform development tools that ignore native features and APIs, but allow for a single code base to be shared across all the different devices where HBO is offered.

This is often most evident in the crappy desktop versions of mobile social media apps, like WhatsApp, where the companies just use something like Electron, which makes them fat and slow, instead of making the effort to write native apps for each platform.

Everyone was waiting to see how AT&T would ruin HBO, and that's playing out as expected. Classic Big Blue.
 
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This app update is insane. In addition to breaking actual functionality, they've moved all the menus around, with things sliding in from the right instead of down from the top, etc. Even if it worked, it would bear no resemblance to the interfaces of every other app. It's awful.
 
Bruins96 said:
Their feedback form is here: https://help.hbomax.com/feedback
Click to expand...
Thank you for posting that! Submitted. (And great use of this forum. Thanks again.)

UPDATE: Heard back impressively quickly from HBO Max support; however, the response sounded very much like they interpreted my feedback was purely about the broken functionality (about which they're aware, and for which they suggest deleting the app and unplugging the Apple TV for a minute or two), not the redesign. I wrote back to express my frustration with the makeover, bugs notwithstanding.
 
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I discovered that if you Airplay the iOS HBO Max app to the Apple TV all the remote functions work. I'll be doing that until they fix the tvOS app, or from now on if they don't.
 
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I had the same issue as the OP with Mare of Eastown. Then I tried another program on HBO Max and it worked normally. Something is definitely broken.
 
Yea, We’ve been binging all the Dr Who series , my 19 year old daughter and I. And bam the 6/4 update broke the app. Thx for posting this ..
 
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Is anyone else getting Dolby Vision on HBO Max. Mine no longer works with the newer movies that support it.
I thought it was part of this app fiasco but haven't heard anyone mention it.
 
Zimmy68 said:
Is anyone else getting Dolby Vision on HBO Max. Mine no longer works with the newer movies that support it.
I thought it was part of this app fiasco but haven't heard anyone mention it.
Click to expand...
Yes it is part of the mess that is the NEW updated MAX app. It no longer honors the auto switch for HDR/Dobyvison. SO if you have your ATV set to 4K SDR ( as many people do , and should ) When a Dolby vision movie starts up the ATV is unable to switch the range and rate. So you get 4K 60 . To watch it in Doby vision you have to manually change the entire Atv to display every thing in Dolby vision. This is not what you want because most streaming stuff is Not in HDR 10 or Dolby vision An this forces every thing to have a Dolby vision color range , which looks awful on non-Dolby Vision Content. Totally unacceptable as this range , rate switching is one of the ATV ‘s major features. Needed of course as most stuff is not coded for HDR 10 or Dolby vision, except maybe Netflix which has a lot of stuff available.
 
Zimmy68 said:
Is anyone else getting Dolby Vision on HBO Max. Mine no longer works with the newer movies that support it.
I thought it was part of this app fiasco but haven't heard anyone mention it.
Click to expand...
Most if not all of the titles offered in 4k dv were downgraded to 2K SDR in several platforms. If you have access to developer menu and a mac you can try to see the resolution and dynamic range for those titles.

www.howtogeek.com

How to Unlock Detailed Streaming Statistics on the Apple TV

The Apple TV is great way to get content onto a television, but have you ever wondered whether it's working to its full potential? Here's how to see all the streaming stats you could ever need.
www.howtogeek.com www.howtogeek.com
 
Bruins96 said:
This is a headscratching "update" by HBO. It doesn't bring, as far as I can tell, any improvements or new features, and simply breaks a bunch of core functionality. If you were a secret employee for another competing company you couldn't do much worse in terms of releasing an update that would make customers unhappy.
Click to expand...
Agreed. This 'app' is horrible. Something maybe to do with the 'troubles' at the foundering ATT????
 
Applesnoranges99 said:
Most if not all of the titles offered in 4k dv were downgraded to 2K SDR in several platforms. If you have access to developer menu and a mac you can try to see the resolution and dynamic range for those titles.
Click to expand...
Are you referring to the HBO Max app on multiple platforms?

I just tested Wonder Woman 84 on my ATV 4K with the Dev HUD on and the latest (crappy) version of HBO Max, and can confirm I'm getting a 4K HDR signal (I currently moved my ATV to my Samsung which doesn't support Dolby Vision, only HDR10, which is why it's only saying HDR10 in the HUD versus Dolby Digital.

From my testing of the new HBO Max app updates, it breaks functionality of Hey Siri and also a bunch of the easy-navigate features of the remote. But the content picture and audio quality is still coming in as expected.
 
Bruins96 said:
Are you referring to the HBO Max app on multiple platforms?

I just tested Wonder Woman 84 on my ATV 4K with the Dev HUD on and the latest (crappy) version of HBO Max, and can confirm I'm getting a 4K HDR signal (I currently moved my ATV to my Samsung which doesn't support Dolby Vision, only HDR10, which is why it's only saying HDR10 in the HUD versus Dolby Digital.

From my testing of the new HBO Max app updates, it breaks functionality of Hey Siri and also a bunch of the easy-navigate features of the remote. But the content picture and audio quality is still coming in as expected.
Click to expand...
The question is what resolution was your Apt set to when you started the movie ? Was it 4k sdr ? And did it then switch to 4k DV ? Or is your default resolution set to 4k DV In which case the app would show you a DV Presentation. In my case I have a default of 4k sdr set an that is the resolution the new conjuring film was presented to me, no DV switch happened as it should have. Who knows maybe they fixed that, I have not tried since the small update they made the other day.
 
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